Monday, September 19th 2011

High Point Announces RocketU 1144AR USB 3.0 RAID HBA

HighPoint Technologies, Inc., an industry leading HBA and storage solutions manufacturer, launches the latest of its revolutionary USB 3.0 HBA's, the RocketU 1144AR. Four dedicated 5Gb/s ports deliver an unprecedented 20Gb/s of throughput, and support single disk and RAID configurations including 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD.

Conventional USB 3.0 Card + RAID Enclosure packages restrict performance with a maximum transfer bandwidth of 5Gb/s. Such solutions effectively handicap today's fastest external devices, including the latest generation of SSD's, which now meet or exceed this 5Gb/s limitation.
HighPoint's revolutionary RocketU Quad-Port HBA's eliminate this performance bottleneck, and represent the industry's most cost effective, high-performance external USB 3.0 storage solutions for PC platforms. With a potent combination of PCI-E x4 bus speeds and dedicated 5Gb/s per-port transfer rates, the RocketU 1144AR delivers class leading performance while saving you hundreds of dollars over existing RAID solutions.

Flexible, High-Performance External Storage
The RU1144's integrated RAID technology allows users to configure arrays using combinations of USB external hard drives, SSD's, enclosures and docking bays. Mix and match SSD's and hard drives of any USB generation, into high-performance stripe configurations, or secure valuable data with mirrored arrays.

For the ultimate gaming and multi-media experience, configure RAID 0 arrays using multiple, external USB 3.0 drives for maximum performance. Configure mirror and 5 arrays to provide additional layers of security, and protect valuable data from the risks of hardware failure.

The RocketU 1144AR's intuitive web-based Management interface allows you to quickly and easily configure RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD arrays using a variety of high-performance external USB 3.0 storage devices.

Cost-Effective USB 3.0 Upgrade with RAID for any PC
RocketU Quad-Port HBA's are the only USB 3.0 controllers on the market capable of delivering the throughput needed by today's fastest external hard drives and SSD's. RocketU HBA's are fully backwards compatible with any PCI-E 1.0 x4/x8 and x16 slot, and will automatically recognize any external USB hard disk or SSD's that are pre-configured or already contain data. RocketU HBA's are fully compatible with USB 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 hard drives, SSD's, multi-bay enclosures and docking bays.

Availability
The RocketU 1144AR HBA is available immediately, from a world-wide network of Distribution and Reseller channels. For more information, visit the product page.
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12 Comments on High Point Announces RocketU 1144AR USB 3.0 RAID HBA

#1
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
Wait USB raid? Is this something new?
Posted on Reply
#2
Fx
I havent heard of the tech before

its' use is definitely limited to specific scenarios. I dont see it as an optimal performer over internal sata3 raid
Posted on Reply
#3
Disparia
You both must have missed my thread about USB RAID last year :)

Everything I can think of can be done better with other solutions. Maybe down the line when I have accumulated a bunch of USB 3.0 storage and their all too slow or too small on their own to use, I can raid them up.
Posted on Reply
#4
Th3pwn3r
Ugh lol, I doubt this will be selling too well with that bottleneck of 5gbps. Sure that's good but for "future proofing" umm, this thing is already obsolete. At the least most of us want 6gbps.
Posted on Reply
#5
Sasqui
Scratching my head here too... there is a notion of "Superspeed" USB, but doesn't seem to match what they mention.

Does USB 3.0 have some provison for parallel connections so you can theoretically increase bandwidth with multiple physical plugs from the same device?

:confused:
Posted on Reply
#7
Sasqui
SteevoLarger USB drives can be put into RAID.

CORSAIR Flash Voyager 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Mod...

4 of these at $20 each and 70MBps read speed in raid means 64Gb Raid volume with a total of 280MBps read speed for $80 plus the card.
So this controller is a USB 3.0 Raid controller? Plug in multiple drives with a USB 3.0 interface and this card will RAID them?
Posted on Reply
#8
Disparia
SasquiScratching my head here too... there is a notion of "Superspeed" USB, but doesn't seem to match what they mention.

Does USB 3.0 have some provison for parallel connections so you can theoretically increase bandwidth with multiple physical plugs from the same device?

:confused:
It four separate USB controllers, so each port has the full 5Gbps available.
SteevoLarger USB drives can be put into RAID.

CORSAIR Flash Voyager 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Mod...

4 of these at $20 each and 70MBps read speed in raid means 64Gb Raid volume with a total of 280MBps read speed for $80 plus the card.
The 1144AR costs $120 to put it into perspective.
SasquiSo this controller is a USB 3.0 Raid controller? Plug in multiple drives with a USB 3.0 interface and this card will RAID them?
My guess is that this is the RocketU 1144A + a software package to handle the RAID configuration and operation.
Posted on Reply
#9
Sasqui
JizzlerMy guess is that this is the RocketU 1144A a software package to handle the RAID configuration and operation.
I suspect you are correct. Why not design the same type of functionality with eSata?

...I guess the selling point here is that you can also use the unused USB 3.0 plugs for other peripherals as well. But seems the whole idea seems has small practical market value. Who is going to buy 2+ external 3.0 USB drives and dedicate them to this? Go with RAID 0 and the drives would likely not be usable for anything other than plugging into this thing. And buying 2+ USB 3.0 flash sticks for a RAID drive is off the wall. How many SSD drives have native USB 3.0 outputs? Just still scratching my head.
Posted on Reply
#10
rcodi
The quad flash drive raid is a cool idea but having it stick out of the back of your case would worry me.
Posted on Reply
#11
Disparia
SasquiI suspect you are correct. Why not design the same type of functionality with eSata?

...I guess the selling point here is that you can also use the unused USB 3.0 plugs for other peripherals as well. But seems the whole idea seems has small practical market value. Who is going to buy 2+ external 3.0 USB drives and dedicate them to this? Go with RAID 0 and the drives would likely not be usable for anything other than plugging into this thing. And buying 2+ USB 3.0 flash sticks for a RAID drive is off the wall. How many SSD drives have native USB 3.0 outputs? Just still scratching my head.
High Point already has 2 and 4-port eSATA RAID products. That's probably why they moved on to something like this. Already had the 1144AR and a software RAID stack they use for their entry-level SATA cards. Slap them together and see if it sells. :laugh:
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